Thursday, 23 April 2009

Grumpy old man

I called in at the National Railway Museum in York. I'd strongly recommend it: it's free and it's fascinating (although a little full of slightly strange people ogling railway engines and spare parts).

But it reminded me just how far standards have fallen. Travelling on the East Coast line used to be a pleasure. But since National Express took over the franchise from GNER almost everything has got worse - comfort, standard of food, ease of booking, lack of newspapers. They have now stopped the restaurant service and are in the process of putting back ticket barriers on platforms. Fortunately, they are losing money so there is a chance they will have to hand back the franchise, as GNER did. Hopefully any new franchise will include service standards.

Here is a photo of LNER's place setting for dinner. Followed by the current effort.

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About Me

I stood as the Conservative candidate for Lib Dem held Bamburgh Division in the Northumberland County Council elections in 2008. And have stayed involved in the local Conservatives - who for the first time in years had a chance of winning the Berwick upon Tweed seat. We turned it from a safe Lib Dem seat to a marginal, thanks to hard work by the candidate whose election blog is http://trevelyantalks.blogspot.com/ . I'm now having another go at the County Council in the 2013 election.

After the 2010 election I will keep occasionally blogging, mainly on political and economic issues.

I was born in Yorkshire, and lived all my working life in Central London. But coming to live in Seahouses a few years ago felt like coming home: I've always come on holiday here, as did my parents, who came from Newcastle and Tynemouth. And their families came from round here originally. I'm an accountant who worked mostly in general management in the City. I'm now semi-retired, although still do a couple of things 3 or 4 days a month.